KIRKUS REVIEW

All teens want to be popular in high
school…but not all are. Konen combines humor and pathos for a realistic novel
about the conflict between peer pressure and personal strength.

It’s been years since Liz and Jason
were best friends. He left her behind when he joined the “in” crowd, before
going to juvie for a horrible crime. Now it’s Liz’s turn to be “in,” sitting at
the best table, having the most popular girl as her new best friend, and dating
the most handsome boy in school. But then Jason returns, and he wants to be
friends again. If she says no, she can be in her sister’s wedding and keep her
friends and new, carefree lifestyle. If she says yes, she loses everything she
was so sure she wanted. Everyone is telling her what to do, what to think, and
what to be. But it’s time for Liz to make her own decisions, regardless of what
anyone else thinks. Konen lets Liz’s struggle with her conscience play out in
the present tense first person, her clear eyes seeing what’s behind the veneer
of white Southern gentility. She describes alcohol, sex, love, and loss frankly
and realistically, though her examination does not extend to a substantive
examination of race relations.

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